Markets rally after US plan to halt money crisis

World stock markets are in a buoyant mood, after US policymakers unveiled plans to fix the crisis that has devasted banking and weakened investor confidence.

European stocks are steeply higher, up over eight percent.

Moscow raced ahead even further, up over 20 percent. But the giant leap worried financial authorities, and trading was temporarily halted. The Russian markets have suffered a rocky ride recently, with the worldwide fall in oil prices adding to worries that followed the war in Georgia.

General confidence was boosted by a US proposal to create a fund to mop up so-called “toxic debt”.

The Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, and the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, explained their deal to Congressional leaders at a hastily-convened meeting. It would create an entity to buy up troubled mortgage debt to get credit markets working again.

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